In the Asian region including Japan, soap constitutes the mainstream of skin cleansing agents such as whole body cleansing agents from of old. Consumers in this region prefer soap having a good squeaky feeling in rinsing besides good foaming tendency and creamy foam qualities (Surfactants in Cosmetics, Second Edition PP427).
In the meantime, an alkyl ether sulfate is used as skin cleansing agents such as whole body agents in, primarily, Europe and America. Because the alkyl ether sulfate has bubbly foam qualities, giving a slimy feeling in rinsing, Europeans and Americans prefer this. Also, because the alkyl ether sulfate is relatively more moderate to the skin than soap, it is also widely used in Japan (WO96/05798 A). JP 2003-81935 A discloses a specific internal olefin sulfonate with the intention of obtaining solubilization ability, penetration ability, and surface tension-lowering ability and describes that when the olefin sulfonate is used for shampoos, good foaming properties and good feeling to the touch are obtained without any squeaky feeling during shampooing.
Also, an alkyl ether carboxylic acid surfactant is known as a surfactant having low irritation to the skin. However, it has less foamability and therefore studies are being made concerning a method of combining it with other surfactants such as an alkyl ether sulfate (JP 2008-285479 A).